A Whitehorse man who committed a "shocking, brutal assault” has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.

Cameron Semple, 41, pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm, as well as impaired driving.

He was sentenced last month to 46 months in prison, minus 10 months served between the time of his arrest and his sentencing.

In his reasons for sentencing, visiting territorial court judge Gerald Barnable described the attack as "a shocking, brutal assault, committed by an assailant whose judgment was impaired, on a victim so impaired herself that she was not aware of what was happening to her and could not protect herself at all.

"The charges facing him afterwards could easily have been murder, and it is lucky (the victim) did not lose an eye.”

According to the judge's reasons, Semple attacked the woman with a knife and stabbed her multiple times, then called 911.

"The event must have been prolonged and unrelenting until he finally came to his senses enough to call for aid for her,” the judge said.

The victim has absolutely no memory of the attack, Barnable noted, so the court had to rely entirely on Semple's description of what happened, although the publicly accessible case file does not contain any statement from Semple.

Barnable gave Semple some limited credit for "self-reporting” the attack, but also noted: "He has a violent and extensive criminal record covering 23 years.”

Semple assaulted the same woman on a previous occasion, the judge pointed out, and also has a conviction for assaulting his ex-wife.

Court records show his most result assault conviction is from 2007, but he did not serve any time behind bars for that crime.

Barnable also noted as a mildly mitigating factor, the fact that Semple appears to have "very limited vision and only in one eye.

"I think anybody with this impairment, even if it was caused by himself, has a harder time wherever he goes, including the penitentiary.”

The aggravating factors, however, overwhelmed the mitigating.

Semple has an antisocial personality disorder, according to a psychological assessment given to the judge.

He is also an alcoholic who " is not amenable to mandated treatment,” the judge found.

The judge rejected the defence side's suggestion Semple be sentenced to 26 more months in prison.

Punishing Semple for his crime is more important than trying to rehabilitate him at this point, the judge said, adding, "I cannot see much in the way of rehabilitation from this offender right now.

"... Anyone looking at the pictures of this victim and hearing of her injuries would want the behaviour of this convict denounced, and the sentence of the court should speak denunciation clearly,” Barnable said before handing down the 46-month sentence.

Semple was also convicted of driving while disqualified, and sentenced to 14 days to be served at the same time as his longer prison term.